Ramen Shop expanding in Rockridge

People enjoy dinner at the Ramen Shop in Oakland. Photo: The Chronicle/John Storey

Oakland’s Ramen Shop is expanding in what’s sure to be welcome news to fans of the ever-packed Rockridge restaurant.

Partner Sam White tells Scoop he’s taken over the lease of the luggage store next door, where he’ll add kitchen space and an intimate bar area. Perhaps more importantly, the move will free up another 15 dining seats in the current front bar section, which White admits can seem more like a busy waiting room than a cozy watering hole.

“We want the bar feel more like space where you can sit down for a few hours and have some cocktails, a more thoughtful place where you can actually hang out,” he says.

White says that he and his bar manager Chris Lane have been hording bottles of rare whiskey, and plan to offer a more extensive, exciting list of spirits and beers (including some sours), as well as likely a few bar snacks.

The Ramen Shop crew won’t get the keys until October, so don’t expect the new space to debut until early 2015. But when it does open, White says they plan to expand their hours to seven days a week and eventually start up lunch service on the weekends.

But don’t expect the owners to tweak too much of what has proven to be a very successful formula.

“We’re really excited about it, but it’s less about making some giant place and more about increasing functionality,” says White. “It’s important for us not to change the vibe; we really like what we’ve created.”